Pessimism over Rafah
author: By Danny Rubinstein
source: Haaretz, 21-11-2005
Is the agreement concerning the Rafah crossing a success or a failure? A victory or a summary: defeat? On both sides, it depends, of course, on whom you ask. At the end of this week, the implementation of the first stage is supposed to begin, and the Rafah crossing is supposed to start regular operations.
Afterward there are additional stages and additional dates that are related to the problematic issue of the passage of convoys between the West Bank and Gaza, among other things. The entire agreement is of a temporary nature, for one year; at the end of that year the third party (the Quartet, headed by the Americans) has to decide whether the arrangement has worked properly, and whether it is possible to rely on the Palestinians and to grant them greater control over the crossings.
This issue is of supreme importance, because control of the border crossings is a central component of political independence. Whoever controls the crossings and determines what and who enters and leaves - is the sovereign. This is both a symbolic and a practical matter. If the Palestinians receive complete control over the Rafah crossing, and eventually control over the Gaza seaport and airport, we will be able to say for the first time that there is a territory under Palestinian sovereignty.
In "Israel" there was criticism of the agreement, most of it political, from the right and the left, but there was also at least one research agency, the Re`ut Institute, which determined that "Israeli" surrender of the security "envelope" (the authority entrusted with security control) is dangerous, since it means an erosion in the permanent "Israeli" demand that the Palestinian territories be demilitarized.
On the Palestinian side, the official speakers were satisfied with the agreement, but they were not enthusiastic, either. "This is the best agreement that we could achieve in these circumstances," says the Palestinian minister of planning, Ghassan al-Khatib, who was a member of the Palestinian delegation that conducted the negotiations. The opposition, led by Hamas, sharply attacked the agreement. "The Egyptians and the Palestinians will run the Rafah crossing under "Israeli" supervision," was the headline of the Gaza weekly Al-Rasala, which expresses the views of Hamas.
From the headlines, and from things said by Hamas activists, one would think that "Israel" continues to be the lord and master, while the Egyptians and the Palestinians are the ordinary laborers who carry out the master`s orders. But even leading figures who are not in the opposition were angry about the agreement, and declared that the Palestinians did not receive their minimum demands. Hafez Barghouti, for example, the editor of the Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Hayat al-Jadida, wrote that what is important is that there is no free Palestinian crossing in Rafah. The cameras there will transfer the various data to "Israel" in real time, and "Israel", in the editor`s opinion, will be able to intervene as much as it likes. "We still have the status of beggars who plead, and not the status of people who conduct negotiations," wrote Barghouti.
Insofar as it was possible to get an impression of the atmosphere among the Palestinians, the majority does in fact think that the agreement is a failure, even a surrender on the part of the leadership. The reason is that the expectations were high. Many in the territories thought that with "Israel's" withdrawal, there would be total Palestinian control of Rafah, of the airport, and of the Gaza seaport. Veteran opponents of the Oslo Accords - people such as the chair of Fatah`s central committee, Farouk Kaddoumi, head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestinian (DFLP), Naif Hawatmeh, and even Hamas leader Khaled Meshal - had hoped that now they would be able to come to Gaza. But, according to the agreement, they will not be able to do so, because only those listed in the PA population registry, which is under "Israeli" supervision, will be able to cross at Rafah.
But the problem of the agreement under discussion here is not what is written in it, but whether it can be properly implemented. The Oslo Accords also contained many nice ideas that were never realized. On the Palestinian side, they are already complaining that the "Israelis" are behaving arrogantly. The latter seem to be in no rush to reply, they are not even carrying out the coordination arrangements necessary to open the Rafah crossing at the end of the week. Later on, they will have to implement the opening of the border to the West Bank, and complete the preparation of the Gaza seaport and airport. In the Palestinian street, the atmosphere is pessimistic. Good for those who believe the agreement at Rafah will succeed, they say.
